


Marked

by XenaHime53



Category: Dark Angel, NCIS
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Reality, Character Death, Children, Constructed Reality, Cussing, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Familiar Faces - Freeform, Family Feels, Friendship, Girls with Guns, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Hunted, Manticore (Dark Angel), Mystery, Psychological Drama, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Sci-Fi, Suspense, Tony DiNozzo is not Logan Cale, Tony DiNozzo may have a Superwoman Obsession.. or is it just a Max obsession?, Top Tony DiNozzo, Violence, X5, badassery, supersoldiers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 19:29:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6437317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XenaHime53/pseuds/XenaHime53
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trapped within a parallel universe that is much like her own, Max Guevara needs to adapt and overcome one elaborate scheme after another. Is this a plot of Manticore that she can't escape from - Punishment for escaping in the first place? A new reality that is an entrapment within the depths of her own subconsciousness? What about when she encounters a person that looks like Logan? (** A story where Max replaces Ziva on the team**)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Avenging Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was she stuck here.. or was it temporary? She didn't know what she was hoping on. Anywhere was better then a life without looking over your shoulder for someone to capture or kill you. All she wanted was a family, her squad of X-5s provided that, as crazy as a the family was. She wondered if they were here, her brother's and sisters,and if they were alright. She wondered if they were safe - maybe even in good homes. She refused to believe after all their dreams of being a family together - that she was the only one.

The soft wind blew the dark curls from her olive skin toned face as dark eyes viewed her surroundings from on top of the high building she was on. This place, Washington she found out, was... different.. and truthfully Max didn't know if it was good or bad yet. It was as if the pulse never existed. As if _Manticore_ never existed.. but that was impossible? Woman, men and children were walking around as if everything was alright.. as if the government didn't change her into something to fear. Was this all some sort of a joke?!

She looked up at the dark sky, silently asking why. Why had her mother given her up? What year was it here? Why did Manticore choose her out of all abandoned babies? The last thing she remembered was being knocked out in a room full of experiments. Maybe, where she was, was created by Manticore? She wouldn't exactly be surprised. An alternate plane of some kind maybe? She was taught how to survive the shit they came up with but who knows what they have achieved in her absence? Max ground her teeth together frustrated. So not only was she tired, hungry, and confused - she was also somewhere she had no collection of. She didn't like not knowing so many things at a time.

If she was in fact here, Max pinched herself - yup, she was- she only would assume another was here to keep their eye on her. Highly likely many more then one.

She was haunted by the memories of that place. She hated it more then she could say she hated anything else in her life. Max never believed in running from things but when the time calls for it. When you have no other choice, you have to do what you have to do. She ran with the others because at the tender age that she was when she ran, she wanted something more. Something better. Her life was supposed to be better then taking orders from people that thought they were better.. right? She hoped so at least.

Was she stuck here.. or was it temporary? She didn't know what she was hoping on. Anywhere was better then a life without looking over your shoulder for someone to capture or kill you. All she wanted was a family, her squad of X-5s provided that, as crazy as a the family was. She wondered if they were here, her brother's and sisters,and if they were alright. She wondered if they were safe - maybe even in good homes. She refused to believe after all their dreams of being a family together - that she was the only one.

Gun shots rang in the silence, making Max turn her head at the sound. She heard that sound all her life, and even now after all these years, she hates it. Creeping closer at the sound of small sinister laughter and an old Scottish man pleading, her cinnamon brown eyes widened. There holding a gun, a young man with sandy hair and a tanned skin tone, looked all to familiar.

Before she knew what she was doing Max found herself falling from the high building and landing in a perfect crouch, that made the elder man's eyes widen at the position she was in after falling from the height that should have surely killed her, but she ignored him in favor of looking at the younger man. Happiness and dread filled her, "Ben... drop the gun."

"Nothing makes sense here, Max." He told her, ignoring what she said, "This man works for the government. He swears that he never heard of Manticore - the pulse - Max, it's as if we don't even exist!"

She stepped in front of him, blocking his dangerously glinted dark gaze off of the man, flinging the gun with one hand to lay innocently on the ground. "Have you found our brothers and sisters?" To her dismay, Ben shook his head. "That's okay, we just need to adapt and survive. We will find them, we just have to have patience."

"No." She stared at him in disbelief as he shook his head. Wasn't a normal life after everything that happened in their lives exactly what he wanted? "I won't work the government after everything. Not knowing who will drive a knife through your back when it's turned - not knowing who is from Manticore. No, Max."

She nodded, understanding his point of view even if she wanted to look at the best in people, she didn't want to go through that hell again. "Leave him alone, Ben. We are not longer at Manticore. We are no longer subjected to the things we went through. Ben, this can't be us. This no longer has to be us."

"Sorry, Max. I am not you. Everything in Manticore, even though our unit was pushed around and sheltered.. made sense." He turned away, only to realize that he walked right into her.

"Ben, do you here yourself?" Her eyebrows pulled together in caution and misunderstanding, "Do you really miss it all? .. Then why did you run away with us?" She questioned angrily in the night air, "You were the older popular one, always comforting us with your personality, imagination and fantastic stories whenever we had questions. You helped us deal with the hard life we lived." She stepped closer to him, hands grabbing his face, forcing him to look at her. "Ben, don't be like this."

Her cinnamon eyes grew even more saddened as he smacked her hand away, his eyes growing darker, "We are already are, Max. Sorry to burst your high and mighty bubble but that's what we have been trained to do. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be."

Her eyes followed him as he brushed harshly past her, wonder what went wrong along the way with him. She was just trying to help him, she didn't force him to run. Max couldn't believe the Ben that she looked up to as a child would walk away just like that.

She turned and saw an slightly elder man with glasses, a light brown hat, an almost suit with a baby blue shirt underneath and a tie. "I am sorry you were dragged into this. Ben wasn't always like that.." She looked longingly in the direction said 'brother' of hers ran off too. "He is different now.. and I am afraid he is right."

"My dear girl," She turned to the Scottish voice of the man next to her, "you saved my life. A person you don't even know. If I may ask, what did that young man mean about not trusting the government?"

She looked at him weary but paused a little more then a moment, "You really don't know... do you?" She sighed and continued on, "I am afraid even if I told you, it wouldn't change a thing.. I have this dreadful feeling that it's only the beginning. I am sorry for interrupting your night."

His cell phone rang and he looked down before looking up again to see the dark haired beauty was gone.

"Duck? .. Ducky!?" He snapped out of his thoughts and the name of the caller with a sense of urgency in his tone, completely unaware of said dark beauty watching his every movement.

"Jethro, we may have a major problem."

_Am I not supposed to have a normal life with a white fence, kids, and a husband to kiss me when I come home? Am I not supposed to be happy? I am sorry Ben, for anything and everything that I didn't even know I had done._

_I will find you and the others - I promise even if it is with my last breath._


	2. You.. Lucky Ducky, you!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony eyed Ducky walking away with a smirk curving his lips before calling out to him, "Hey, Ducky! Be honest - did 'Superwoman' have the corset, belt, garter, and high heeled boots?" His only response to his question was Ducky shaking his head side to side in amusement, "...So I'm gonna take that as a 'No' then?"

" _Ducky_!" The sound of the man's name echoed in an feminine voice through his ears with excitement as soon as he stepped forward from the elevator. So familiar in was the woman's joy that the Scottish older man couldn't help but make his dry lips curl upwards at the sound. The death of Caitlin "Kate" Todd hit all of the hard even if it was just a few months prior, it still hit closer to home than what any of them would be able to speak of. She was a friend in both in and out of the work place to them all; and didn't deserve to go out like she did.. For months they stressed over it, even though Ducky knew from a psychological standpoint that it was far from healthy..

Running as fast as her black, gothic combat boots could carry here he wasn't surprised in the least to see Abby running towards him, where he stood in the pathway of some of the fellow NCIS agents. He politely stepped backward and out of the way only for said agents to flee away in fear of being trampled by the Gothic dressed forensic scientist with one sole goal in mind.

A laugh forced from his lips as she all but flew herself at him, hugging him for dear life. For but a mere moment, his mind cast away the thoughts of his a aching old bones and the wounds that were inflicted by a young adult that seemed to be struggling with both anger and paranoia.. In the arms of someone close to him, someone who worried for him, Ducky felt at ease.

"Hey Abs, you don't you ease up a bit? He may be smiling at the attention.. but I reckon he's starting to get a blue tint around the gills.." It was Tony's voice that cut in, making Abby jump backward with a sheepish, wounded expression at the prospect of causing him pain whilst Timothy McGee looked at his fellow team agent with raised eyebrows, mouthing the word 'reckon' silently in confusion - though he was hereby ignored.

"It's perfectly fine, Abigail." Ducky waved off her apologies with a gentle smile, saying her first name as opposed to her nickname as always, his orbs framed by the weighed bags underneath as they mirroring both his exhaustion and his amusement to the three before him. The dark haired woman took this time to hug his body more gently, her head resting upon his shoulder to try and take comfort that he was alright.. that she wasn't about to lose yet another person she grew to care for.

He didn't want to voice the obvious.. didn't want to acknowledge the truth that what would have happened to him if that 'Max' woman hadn't swooped in like an avenging angel to try a calm down the person that had once been her friend.. His mind was thrown into a whirlwind of calculations, trying to run through situations that would fit all of this confusion..

" _Soo_.. Ducky." Tony drawled out his words in a teasing manner as he regarded the older man with a glint alight in his orbs, a smile twitching on his lips, "The story is that some crazy 'young adult' that was _completely off his meds_ , ambushes you, talked equally insane with his paranoia for anything government related.. and some badass dark archangel with a gorgeous face, high cheek bones and wavy long hair named 'Max' literally dropped in from a dangerous height and proceeded to go all.. modern day _superwoman_ straight out of the comic book on the dude..?" He cast his eyes down on the white piece of paper that was in his left hand, which Ducky didn't acknowledge until Tony flipped it around to show him the face etched upon it.

Ducky blinked as his eyes ran over the page of the beautiful heart shaped face that his savior had, doe eyes and waved hair that he knew for a fact that cascaded down her back. For a moment, from within his mind's eye Ducky saw the picture come to life, olive flawless skin covered hands outstretched in a protective, defensive gesture as she faced Ben head-on. Fearlessly staring down the person she once called friend, even with sadness tainting her dark doe eyes as she once thought of how he was before.. before whatever it was that happened to them. Ducky wasn't sure what it was, what had happened to the pair of them or any of the others that 'Max' had deemed their 'brothers and sisters'.. yet it seemed that they all would be dragged into it all the same. Hearing Anthony's question of _'..Did I get all that right?'_ as if it was voiced underwater Ducky nodded his head, after all that was pretty much what happened.. as unbelievable as it was.

Tony blinked with surprise etched on his face, switching his gaze to and fro to the sketch that Ducky had recalled to the sketch artist hours before to the very same man himself. The story seemed incredibly sceptical to him, especially the part that the woman jumped from a height that should have killed her and landed on the heels of her feet. The young man that was dubbed as Ben, no last names were used for these people - _irritatingly enough_ , sounded like your average criminal. Insane? Check. Vengeful for some reason or another? Check. On the run from the government? Check. However this guy was either thick in the head or completely out of it and reality as a whole that he targetted Ducky - was willing to target any government worker in general was a sure sign of stupidity. Of recklessness - something that they all were no strangers of.. Still, Tony remained unmoved, standing as he looked down at the gorgeous face of this 'Max' woman and couldn't halt the words that spilled from his lips in a soft murmur as soon as his mind supplied them, "... _Lucky Bastard_.."

A hard slap abruptly came into contact with the back of his head, and Tony immediately winced in both surprise that his boss had yet again snuck up on him and the pain that he was just on the receiving end of, "What I _meant_ boss was I am very lucky - _happy_ even - that Ducky is alive and well.." He refused to stutter as he looked at his co-workers for help, "..Right guys?"

"Aren't we all, DiNozzo?" Leroy Jethro Gibbs questioned dryly as he reached behind his desk to grab the other sketch of the man named 'Ben', "Nice save. What do we got?" Even though the 'Nice save' was said in an sarcastic tone of voice, the following question was firm - giving the everlasting impression that they had better have been doing actual work instead of socializing.

Timothy gave him an irritable look, his left eye twitching righteously and Tony knew that facial expression as one of plain exasperation, the 'This isn't the time to joke around, Tony!' face. It was one that he had been aimed at several time throughout his life to present day, making him almost immune to it by now.

The both of them quickly scrambled to their desks, completely aware of the bemused gazes that Abby and Ducky were aiming at pair of them. When McGee was parting his lips to rattle off what he had found - or hadn't found - on a nearby surveillance camera, Tony stole the words out of his mouth.. literally.

"Whomever this Ben guy is, knew that the surveillance camera on the shop diagonal to the alley way where he ambushed Ducky. All _we_ got was majority of the back of his head and a one-third glimpse of the right side of his face." Tony turned away from the frustrated look that McGee was aiming in his direction and gave Ducky a solemn look in return. It must be hard for him to relive this and get no answers to the many questions that were no doubt running within the good doctor's brilliant mind. "..He was careful - _precise_ in where he moved, calculating.. Maybe he had some kind of training? Wouldn't be the first time a soldier didn't pass through his psych evaluations due to the horrors of war..?"

Gibbs nodded a fraction forward his eyes distant as his mind worked into overdrive for a few moments before he sprung into action and began giving orders, "McGee - Enhance the video of what we _do_ have of his face. A third of it is better than nothing to go on at all." Gibbs didn't wait to see if he nodded before moving onto the next person, sending Abby to run facial recognition of the two sketches that Ducky had provided them with, Ducky himself to work on profiling the two people claiming to be 'siblings' and DiNozzo to send out a BOLO using said sketches for the public to use as identity until they found out just who these people were and how many more were them to call 'brothers and sisters'.. before he walked off to do one thing or another..

Tony eyed Ducky walking away with a smirk curving his lips before calling out to him, "Hey, Ducky! Be honest - did 'Superwoman' have the corset, belt, garter, and high heeled boots?" His only response to his question was Ducky shaking his head side to side in amusement, "...So I'm gonna take that as a _'No'_ then?"

"Real women don't look like that Tony.." Tim McGee rolled his eyes in irritation and concentrated hard on the video feed, trying to tune out Tony's amused snort as he grabbed the phone to make the call. "Have some decency."

"Bet you that would have crushed your seventeen year old self back when you were younger.. I bet that you would have cried your eyes out, _McGeek._ Either way though, it's clear that you never had the guts to walk into a strip club or be invited to a naughty adult Halloween party.."

"Tony.." Tim McGee murmured his nickname through clenched teeth, making Tony grin wider at the sight of his irritation.

"Fine, fine - I'll lay off.." Tony hid behind a serious expression and waited for Tim to release an almost inaudible sigh of relief after a few seconds of silence, "For now.. though even _you_ have to admit that 'real women' should not look this damn tempting.." Timothy McGee groaned loudly before chancing to take a glimpse at Tony - who was almost comical in the way he had the black, sleek phone rested firmly against his face and shoulder whilst he gazed at the female sketch yet again.. and was that actually drool starting to leak from the corner of his lips?! Yes, Tim McGee may have been teased and called a 'techy' since grade school - but he was still male and not blind..

This woman 'Max' may be beautiful and may somehow possess _X-Men_ powers that would make every nerd around the globe smile with glee and excitement.. and as beautiful as she was Tim found his type to be more paled skin, eyes shimmering with knowledge and teasing glints, dark black hair and - _ahem_.. well she was also a part of their _case!_ She was somehow involved with the guy that ambushed Ducky - family or not..

He only wished that Tony had a little bit more professionalism...

" _DiNozzo! Should I be worried about your obvious lack of attention span?_ " Gibbs' voice sounded closer than what Tony would have expected, the growl encased in the older male's voice made Tony freeze up forward quickly hunching his upper body forward to offer the facade that he had been busy doing something important.

" _No Boss_!" Tony responded back quickly, ignoring the smirking person at the desk next to his who was staring intently at the screen and fiddling with the mouse and keyboard in such a disgustingly techno-geek move that Tony turned away to put the picture aside and turned his attention back to the ringing phone by his ear.

Yet another day in paradise.. Tony sighed to himself with annoyance, having two last lingering thoughts before someone picked up the phone and he opened his mouth to speak - _Why is it that the bad guys - and trouble as a whole - can't take at least one year vacation off? ..That would be pretty awesome, it too bad that it was only wishful thinking..._


	3. Hunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby, done reciting the information that she looked up an hour ago, went back to the images to show Gibbs them once again before turning to face him with dread. "To call an organization - whomever or whatever they do in it - is an challenge, Gibbs. A dare for anyone to snoop into their activities.. worse is, this Ben guy no doubt escaped and set his sights on Ducky, maybe all of us. Max Guevara, whoever she is, may be an unknown variable .. and yet if she hadn't been there.. If she hadn't stepped in and -"

Walking measurably through the streets of Seattle in dark wash jeans, a black leather jacket over a black foam fitting top and heels encasing her feet - Max Guevara moved through the pushing people around her in their hurry to get wherever they needed to. The irony was not lost to her, and yet surrounded by all these nameless people.. Max had would bet that she never felt so alone.

..This was probably what Neil had felt when he was thrust inside of The Matrix. Was this reality or was it a parallel universe that was much like her own. A punishment by Manticore for trying to escape them in the first place.. was there someone on the other side, ready to pull the plug when she least expected it? Was there any point to any of this?

Max didn't have the answers to any of the questions that were spiraling to the forefront on her mind as she moved forward; pushing her newly acquired black hat down to cover the top of her face and her huge framed sunglasses to cover dark eyes in which she hated. It may have been necessary to allow her the required camouflage Max needed to blend in with the busy crowd with this morning, frosty weather.. but it still would hinder her if it came down to a fight.

Her body clenched tightly in annoyance before she forced herself to relax, her muscles offering a soft spasm as they rebelled against her command. She was about a block or two away from her desired destination, yet part of her ached to turn back and go into hiding. That it wasn't safe.. it was also a part of her that was quickly silenced. In response, Max mentally scoffed and shook her head at her moment of weakness; something she knew would get her killed. No, she was going to investigate this lead.. One that she didn't have Logan's help with 'Eyes only', not that she had gotten a chance to take him up on his offer anyway. Still, she had to pursue this even if it price was her life. It could be on her her siblings, and if it was one of Colonel Lydecker's men posing as someone to draw her out.. well, the 40 caliber hidden on her person worked just fine.

As she walked past a Electronics Store, TVs lined in the front broadcasting the news, Max came to an abrupt halt as she eyed the expertly sketched reflections of both Ben and herself. _Fuck._ She thought back to the Scottish older man that had seemed to nice for that of a Manticore infested government agency, yet she thought that she had more time.. Or at least not the very next day. She had to give them that much; they worked fast. Faster than she expected them to be able to. Damn it, was she slipping from this game already?

Her thick framed glasses fell to rest on the bridge of her nose, allowing a young man that was on the phone to chance a glimpse sideways.. and pause in shock. Max's dark brown orbs flashed with irritation before pulling her eyes upwards and continuing on, even though she knew the teenaged boy had seen her - she wouldn't harm him. She was forced to harm so many before he crossed her path, in the name of Manticore and of her very survival. She wished that it was enough, that no more blood shall shed .. but it was wishful thinking. That was why she acted as if she hadn't noticed him, as if she were too busy with looking at the TV screen and occupied by her thoughts.

Besides if she were to actually do something, it would something that would draw the attention of everyone else around them.

 _Figures._ Max growled mentally as she turned the corner, the building claiming to be 'Jam Pony' now within sight. _Even when you win .. you lose._

.....

"What do you got, Abs?" Gibbs moved through the door swiftly in the Forensic Scientist's domain, clenching his teeth in frustration as he did so carrying a Cafe Pow in his hand for the amusing goth that acted like a second daughter to him more often than not. He was irritated by the fact that answers came to him few and far between, usually a case gave them basic information whereas on this one they had almost nothing to go on. They had the sketched faces of Max and Ben - whoever they were - yes but Jethro couldn't shake the feeling that swelled in his gut. Something that warned him that there was something more amidst.. something much for deadly than even he could grasp onto acknowledgment.

Abby turned swiftly, eyeing him in surprise as if he appeared out of thin air before her .. before looking at the beverage in his hand with a strange mixture of longing on the crestfallen expression etched upon her youthful face. "No Gibbs!" She cast her eyes away in shame, staring daggers at her once beloved computer and not able to see the man raise one of his eyebrows. "Don't tempt me.. I haven't earned it."

Gibbs moved forward to stand beside her, ranking his eyes over her computer to see the sketched faces staring back at them before directing his eyes to side view at her face that housed an concentrating, complexed expression. "..What happened?" He was almost hesitant to ask if she needed McGee down her to help her, Abby had shown time and time again that she was indeed very capable of this job on her own. He may not know much about computers, but Abby was flawless with technology as equal to Tim McGee. Yet, years of dealing with women - romantic or otherwise - that you are not to even try to insinuate that you think that they are unable to do something. That they are, for whatever the reason was, unable to complete something. Still, he worried for her..

"Gibbs, I have been trying everything that I could think of." Abby stood back and gestured angrily at the computer screen with both hands, before spinning around to look at him in the eye, "I was doing what you told me to. I ran a search for these two people, one of them targeting Ducky for crying out loud, and I come this close," Abby raised her right hand and measured an inch out with her thumb and pointer finger, "and then the walls come crashing down.."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes in suspicion, the gut feeling he previously felt growing haphazardly from within his body as he stared at Abby's dismayed expression. 'The walls come crashing down..' Something was wrong, he could feel it. He knew that something didn't sit well with him about all of this, and this just solidified that feeling.. Who was trying to conceal the identities of these people from them? Which agency built such secure walls and why?

Gibbs placed the Cafe Pow drink a safe distance away from any technology and pursed his lips in thought as he stared hardened at the two faces on the computer, willing the secrets they held to reveal themselves before his eyes. Directing his face to Abby, he voiced a two worded command softly as he moved around her station to look up at the huge overhead screen, "Show me.."

With a tired, frustrated sigh that was released heavily from her lips Abby did as instructed by him, matching the points necessary to identify the female named Max as 'Max Guevara' whilst her family member named Ben had nothing to be shown except for his identification on what he looked like.. when she clicked on Max Guevara's name first, the file that normally housed the person's contact information and such was sealed from them. Classified as _'Restricted'_ by the notice that blinked rapidly in warning, same thing was the result when she clicked on Ben. " _See?_ We have officially been _denied_ , Gibbs."

Gibbs furrowed his eyebrows together once again in suspicion. It was cautious enough that one of them, a living breathing person, didn't have a last name.. but when someone actually went so far as seal a person's records that tied them to this world? He spun to look at the young scientist, "Yes, I see that.. but by who? Can you find out who sealed their records?" He watched her expression tighten a little bit more as Abby furiously typed the keyboard without so much as a downward glance, stepping forward to stand opposite of the computer in which she stared intently at.

"That question I actually _can_ answer." Abby grinned at him, happy that could be of some use and not feel completely hopeless, "It's not an organization that we are familiar with but they have to possess the right tech to seal up those identities so tightly. The only thing that we have actually gained was Max's last name; we don't even know how old she is let alone the answers to all our other questions.." Abby shook her head at his dry expression as answered his question. "The Organization's name is 'Manticore'."

He may his stomach dropped when she said the word 'Manticore', yet he knew naught the name with familiarity even though it rung warning bells in his head. He blinked once at her, shaking his head softly before moving around the station to stand beside her. He didn't know if it was a good thing or not that they haven't had previous problems with Manticore, but he knew that it wasn't a good thing that this Ben person distrusted the entire government simply going by the example that this unknown organization set. "What do we know about them?"

"As little as we know about Ben and Max Guevara.." Abby growled out in a hesitant voice before continuing, "The name keeps popping up over the course of a few seconds every time I click on something pertaining to either of them. The files were sealed due to this organization and by it's name I am guessing that it is as evil as any other criminal we have come a crossed, maybe even more so due to the unknown number of members that make up this organization.."

Gibbs gave her a look before watching cautiously as Abby dragged up the internet and brought up google. "When in doubt? _Google_." She shrugged playfully at the expression on his face and quickly typed in the word 'Manticore', what greeted him where images of a fearsome beast that were made up of different animal body parts before Abby spoke, "Now I am not much into Greek Mythology and all but I do know something about the Manticore - grant it, it's a little bit, but it's still something.." She clicked on a link before reading it thoughtfully, "The Manticore  is a big legendary creature of Greek and Persian myths. It is similar to the Sphinx  in that they are both evil and mashups of different animals. The myth was of Persian origin, where it's name is translated into 'Man Eater'." Abby visibly shivered, mumbling something about 'Cannibalism, freaking Cannibalism!' before forcing herself to continue.

"The description of a _Manticore_ is a large humanoid hybrid animal creature that has a lion's head, a lion's body and a barbed, poisonous, scorpion-like tail. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story - It may be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of a scorpion, and it shoots poisonous spines to either paralyze or kill its victims. It devours its prey whole and leaves no clothes, bones, or possessions of the _prey_ behind. The creature is bigger than a man with semi-dexterous arms and hands with lion claws at the fingers. It is usually 7-8 feet tall and its tail is usually the same length as its body. It has many long, pointed teeth that are extremely sharp and may or may not excrete venom."

Abby, done reciting the information that she looked up an hour ago, went back to the images to show Gibbs them once again before turning to face him with dread. "To call an organization - whomever or whatever they do in it - is an challenge,  Gibbs. A _dare_ for anyone to snoop into their activities.. worse is, this Ben guy no doubt escaped and set his sights on Ducky, maybe all of us. Max Guevara, _whoever_ she is, may be an unknown variable .. and yet if she _hadn't_ been there.. If she _hadn't_ stepped in and -"

Gibbs regarded her silently with soft eyes as she rambled with worry, her hands gesturing with emphasis as she spoke before he turned and grabbed the Cafe Pow from where he left it waiting before. Holding it out for her, he spoke gently when he she opened her mouth to deny that she had earned it; after all from her point of view all she had done was epically fail at finding out who these two unidentified people were and use google to look up an mythology that may or may not have helped with this case. "You earned it." Gibbs murmured to her, "Whether you acknowledge it or not, you helped in the only ways that you were able to. It's not your fault that there isn't much to go on yet, we only just have to try to dig deeper."

As soon as she reluctantly grasp ahold of it with both hands, her computer once again sprung to life. With widening eyes, Abby rested it by her computer mouse and hit the keyboard with precision with Gibbs looking over her shoulder to see a map enlarging to show a pinpointed mark that moved into the circumference of a circle. "We got a hit on the BOLO." Abby spoke swiftly to him in warning before telling him it was Max Guevara instead of Ben's. Gibbs nodded his head in confirmation before ordering her to send the GPS coordinates to his phone, going to move away before retracing his steps swiftly and placing a gentle, fatherly kiss upon her right cheek. Flipping his phone open to place a call to Tony, a distant look entered his eyes as he left Abby's domain where she smiled softly behind him and took a sip of the offered Cafe Pow.

 _A dare for anyone to snoop into their activities, huh?_ Gibbs looked down at the elevator floor that he had just gotten into, with his phone pressed against his ear, ringing twice before DiNozzo picked it up. Whatever storm that they were about to go into - they all needed to be ready for,  whatever the backlash would be in the first place. It was time to try to uncover some answers, time to find out just what was going on.. "DiNozzo, get McGee and get ready. We got a hit on Max Guevara's BOLO." He hung up quickly after Tony gave a quick 'Yes Boss.' knowing they would be on their way to vehicle where the elevator was taking him, his gun pressed securely against his side. He made another call to Ducky, requesting what he had already for Max Guevara's profile so far and listened carefully to the words that traveled through the phone.

He didn't want any surprises that came with meeting her, so he was more than a little cautious when Ducky told him that Max knew of what Ben was rambling about, going so far as change the subject with him onto their siblings.. plural. Just how many did that mean? Just how many people were out there in hiding, whom were just like what Ducky had impossibly described? To Ducky, Max seemed, in the best word that the doctor could describe - _resilient_. She seemed to face numerous hardships, numerous deaths that reflected with frosty coldness in her eyes.. yet when she spoke to Ben she came off as defensive. Loyal to a fault.. but defensive against him. As if he were a wild, dangerous animal that she had to beware of.. and she shielded Ducky's body with her own against the person she seemed to once call brother. It was curious to him, a mystery that something deep within him was being forced to solve. Forced him to want to understand just what was going on..

"I am afraid even if I told you, it wouldn't change a thing.. I have this dreadful feeling that it's only the beginning.." Those were her words to Ducky, that the doctor warned him  about before they hung up.. and they only served to make Gibbs more on edge. This was sure to not be a good thing but they had to do something, anything, about this. No matter what it was, no matter what it entailed - Leroy Jethro Gibbs never backed down from a challenge.


	4. Crossfire

**Yesss, it is back I know! I am sooo sorry! *Ducks for cover underneath pointed stares* It had been a while since I was able to upload because I was stuck without a tablet, for a long time. I had to go to the library and everything - it was annoying. But here I am, boys and girls, and** _**Marked is finally back** _ **! I finally got a tablet, so awesome and shiny! *heart eyes* Lol. I love it and I hope to get the next chapter up soon. :)**

**Another thing that I've changed is Jam Pony is a music store, not the small business it was in the show, okay? :)**

**I hope you guys like it, is is more than 3,000 words. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: Crossfire**

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It was the precise moment in which Max walked cautiously into 'Jam Pony' - and really, what kind of name for a music store was that - that a ghost from her past turned to stare back at her. To greet her as if she were just a regular customer, someone normal. In all the years that passed she had first escaped Manticore, Max had believed that she had changed from the little girl whose very DNA had been morphed into that of a hunter; who was bred to be a soldier. More than once, she would cling to the idea that she was the only one that was in control of her life. She was a person - with depth, intellect, morals and dreams. That she, sometime and somewhere along the way, grew into her own skin with confidence. It was right in this moment as she stared a man her age, one that was somehow familiar to her despite the years that had passed since the two of them had been face to face... Max could tell that she wasn't the only one that rose above what Manticore had done to them.

He may have been older now, may have put on some heavy muscle… but there was something about him that she immediately recognized within his blue, steeled eyes and shaggy blonde hair. She took a hesitant step forward, as if terrified that he would bolt at the first sign of what may be interpreted as a threat before she clarified just who she suspected he was. As she spoke his name for the first time in many years, for even on the outside of all of this she hadn't been able to track him down, it was with respect, longing and familiarity. " _Zack…?_ "

He blinked as he scanned her face with surprise, for she had also changed in their time apart, but as he locked his own orbs with her darker shade he knew instantly who stood before him. Those eyes that now bore into him, wide and expressive, haunted him beyond sleep for many years. He could hardly believe she was here… before him now despite the fact that Max had bet highly that he would have seen both her face as well as Ben's plastered on the news. Everyone was looking for them, and by _everyone_ that undoubtedly included Manticore as well.

 _Who else of the remaining X-5's were somewhere out there within this strange new world… keeping their head down as they tried to adapt and overcome via the only way that they knew how? Camouflaging themselves as civilians, when they were in reality everything but, to keep from getting snatched up on their way 'home'. They that built a life in hope that with time… the past would begin to disappear and blur out of focus within the rearview mirror?_ Max couldn't fault any of them for the attempt in starting anew, with life, literally and metaphorically. She just knew with morbid certainty that when you did that, those problems that you thought you had left behind? Had a bad habit of creeping back up on you when you least expected it.

He spoke her name then as a question, the sound seeming to echo within her ears as he started to move forward to close the gap between the two of them. The facial expression etched upon his face was one that seemed to be torn between relieved that she was here - safe - and worried for the fact that she was once again being hunted like prey. Max was only given a second to feel her heart swell with familial love that went hand and hand with a sting of regret, before he enveloped her into his arms… and as Max rested her head on his shoulder, she found that even if it was only for a moment, with the cold, unforgiving world just outside… She was safe here in Zack's arms. Here she was comforted with the knowledge that even though many things had changed within this life - some things had remained the same.

"I found you…" She murmured softly, more so to herself than for his own ears as a hum of contentment vibrated from the back of her throat. It was after a moment, however, that reality set in and she forced herself to pull away from his embrace with a firm shake of her head, "I need to leave. You built a life, Zack. A life that you call your own… and I can't interrupt that."

No matter how much she missed him, no matter how much she wished she had this man that was her brother in all but common genetic code before Manticore had gotten ahold of them… she wanted to protect him even more. How could she drag him down with her… when Manticore was at her heels?

She backed away quickly from him, eyes locked on the floor underneath her boots before she twisted her body to pull at the glass door. A hand gripped her right forearm from behind, making her twist around to witness Zack's form looming over her. Surprise spiked within her veins even if she also knew she shouldn't be, it was less involved with his silent approach and more so that he actually stopped her from leaving. _Didn't he understand just what kind of trouble being around me will cause him?_ If she found him though, she held no doubt that Manticore would find it to be just as easy as she had. "Whatever it is that you're involved in Max, I am mixed up in it too. This 'life' that you think I had built for myself is just another way to try and sooth the horrors. Whatever it is, you don't have to go through any of it alone, and by that? I mean that I won't let you."

 _Stubborn,_ She accused mentally of him before she shook her head in denial end before she spoke, "I can't ask you to do this." They both knew that Manticore had marked all of them as 'traitors'. They didn't care whether or not they lived or died, either they were to be recaptured at any cost or disposed of. They would have already recognized Ben and herself; Manticore would come for them, as Max knew it would be nothing short of naïve to think otherwise. If Max could save one person, save Zack, from the gruesome fate that Manticore had in store for them… than it would be worth it. All he needed was to say underneath the radar, more so than he had been previously.

A soft laugh spilled from his lips then, startling her even more than she already was now that she saw that he actually found _humor_ in what she had said. _He was fucking laughing at her. If she didn't care for him like the annoying older brother she had viewed him as even when she was a child, she would have kicked him in the balls for such an act!_ It seemed like a long moment before he straightened up to eye her irritated body language, complete with her arms crossed over her chest and her left hip cocked to the side, before he shook his head as he looked down at her with a smile curving his lips, "When are you going to get it, Max? You don't _have_ to ask." He slowly released the tight grasp he had on her arm now that he thought she wouldn't disappear as quickly as she appeared in the first place, before nodding his head to the back of the music shop, "It's best to go out the back door since your face is all over news." He teased her softly before offering her a gray hooded sweat jacket, "I'll lead on. We'll go to my apartment and figure out what to do next… or at least try to get there undetected. Should be fun."

She shook her head, her own smile slowly curving as she head the cheekiness in his voice as he spoke the last three words. _Yeah, some things never change,_ Max thought to herself as she slowly took the jacket he offered her, zipping up the baggy sweat jacket that was twice her size. With a fluid, practiced movement she reached up and swept her luscious dark curls underneath the hood that cast a shadow over half other face. Her cupid's bow shaped lips parted as a grateful 'Thank you' cascaded from them before she followed him silently out of the back door… and into the shark tank where Manticore awaited them somewhere within this world as the did in the last. Closing in on them all… hardened to seek and destroy any and all wayward soldiers. To kill any whom dared to stand in their path; innocent as well as the guilty, friend or foe, right or wrong. It didn't matter to them in the end.

To Manticore all lines, borders and morals simply didn't exist… And if they acknowledged them, the were tested and destroyed just like how they valued human life. Manticore played by their own set of rules, their own code, doing any and all that it took to win against the poor soul that they had had conned into their chess game. You had to quickly adapt, force yourself to give into your most primal instincts and talk herself into doing anything in order to survive… or you would meet your end far sooner than your due time.

* * *

"Of all people…" Zack murmured to himself in a tone of disbelief that echoed within her ears even on the sidewalk that they were on, the rest of his statement was as concealed as the rest of his emotions. All Max could do in response was nod her head silently to him after reporting what Ben had turned into as they curved the corner onto another street...and she understood what he couldn't bring himself to say in this very moment. ' _Of all people that could have broke underneath Manticore's grasp, under the pressure that they inflicted upon them in an effort to see each of them go insane… why did it have to been Ben?'_

_Why did it have to be the one that relieved the torment that they all were subjected to with imagination… in an effort to take their minds of the anguish they were sure to suffer the next day? Why did it have to be Ben whom had snapped when the rest of them were as 'fine' as they could be?_

" _Nothing makes sense here, Max!"_ She recalls Ben all but shouting at her for standing in his way, and you know what? Yeah, she would give him that much, because nothing did make sense after everything that they knew of. However one had to remember a very important fact that Ben himself somewhere along the way had forgotten - Manticore always had a tendency of twisting one's reality.

Zack didn't know either what this world was, but like Max he hoped to make the most of it. He suspected that the world before this, of what they remember the world to be before Manticore captured and experimented on them was just that: an experiment. Or it was reversed and this world was. For all they knew, their subconscious was _here_ and their body was _there_. Manticore was surely not above twisting the human mind into something that they had built, something that they themselves had conducted and were left wanting to test it out so they could see if it truly was 'perfected'. The same could be said of how they viewed humanity's flawed nature. Max contemplated this idea, of being _here_ _and_ _there_ at the same damn time, before she forced herself to move on. After all, who was she to linger upon the ' _What's real? What's not? And how can you possibly be able to tell the difference?_ ' All Max knew with certainty was that she would continue to fight Manticore until her very last breath, but was something that they would have to earn. They had once prided themselves on making her a super soldier and even closer to being even harder to kill; it filled her with dark amusement to know at now she and those much alike her were the ones that Manticore was left to fear after so many years of it being the other way around.

Yet, one had to consider something else, no one was truly able to escape Manticore. They shrouded the world around them with dark intent and there would come a time when everyone involved, whether they wanted to be or not, would have no other choice but to fight or die.

"...I know." Max responded back to him as she forced herself to not contemplate how badly Ben would fail a psychological evaluation right in this moment. She absentmindedly listened to Zack as he tried his hand at being reassuring after all these years, even though she doubted that he truly believed the words coming out of his own mouth. He waved his hand for her to follow him as they jogged a crossed the street like one would normally do when they wanted to beat the incoming traffic, before they came to a stop in front of a bricked apartment complex. It looked to be normal, with about ten floor in total, and that was probably why Zack had set his sights on it in the first place.

"Casey!" A mother's cry pierced the air suddenly, calling after her daughter that skipped ahead of her… the sound abruptly shifting from a reprimand to echoing desperation just as multiple black cars curved around them.

 _Crossfire,_ Max thought with a frantic edge as her dark orbs locked upon a beautiful little girl that couldn't have been more than seven years of age with golden, braided hair and freckles decorating her cheeks. She moved almost on autopilot, darting forward the remaining two steps between them before curving her body inward in an attempt to protect the young girl just as bullets soared through the air, and a familiar type of pain plagued Max as the back of the gray sweat jacket around her seeped with blood.

_Damn, I hate getting shot… but this, this is a familiar pain. Real…_

" _Max!_ " Zack's sharp hiss of her name sounded as if it were miles away from her ear as pain and realization struck her body as if she had been hit by lightning. With the blonde child held protectively within her arms and another vehicle sounding in her ears as it arrived with a screeching halt, Max could only bounce back on the heels of her boots and thrust the both of them backwards with all of her strength to get to safety. It was a move that her back didn't appreciate in the slightest, but it was one that allowed her to be alive to even feel the pain, as she landed beside Zack and in the side cover of a deep blue vehicle.

Three car doors opened and shut quickly, followed by double the pairs of feet, the sound echoing in her ears alongside the cocking of guns. _One bullet in the chamber, two… three…_ Max's eyes narrowed in concentration as she counted each one, figuring each clip housed about thirteen bullets. _There is probably no scenario in this kind of situation that will end in something good._ A whimper reached her ears then, coming from the frightened child in her arms that was otherwise unharmed … though Max reckoned that she would surely need counseling after all of this was said and done, that is if she was still alive.

 _Hell, don't we all need counseling?_ Max mused dryly to herself, _when I was her age I was key holing targets more than a half a mile away…_

"X-542…" An all too familiar voice rang out a crossed the unsettling silence that shrouded them now, calling her out of hiding by stating her designation slowly… emphasizing that she had never been free from their clutches to begin with. That she was nothing more than a _product,_ a weapon that they would use however they saw fit. Shivers ran up and down her spine at the sound of his voice because settling on the branded bar code at the back of her neck, and as she clutched protectively at the little girl Max didn't have to glance sideways to know that Zack had tensed as well. Something about his voice made her think she was a little girl in a military uniform again, too warped and brainwashed to think for herself. Max hated that insignificant feeling and the both of them were forced to consider everything that they did know.

They were surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and their only cover was the half concealment of a car. It wouldn't last long.

This little girl in her arms would be caught in the crossfire of something that didn't even involve her. A death that Manticore would find a way to 'justify' - killing everyone that knew the truth - if they didn't do something … _anything_ to prevent such a fate.

Both of them were injured, Max more so than he, and whilst they could forced themselves to move - she was bleeding heavily onto the concrete as it was. Any move she made, a blood trail would follow. They would need medical attention of some kind or things would certainly not end well even if they did escape.

 _Then again when it ever end well?_ Max released a heavy breath from her mouth before opening her mouth to speak, "Damned if you do…" It was a soft murmur to the man beside her as to not scare the traumatized child any more than what she already was and he cut her off with a knowing element to his voice as he dropped it down to her level of speaking -

"And damned if you don't."

It seemed that Lydecker didn't acknowledge Zack, perhaps it was because he didn't want to or maybe he thought that the younger man was actually a civilian after all - either way it was a mistake on his part. To dismiss a threat because he didn't think that they were, doesn't mean that anyone, when pushed hard enough, could become one. "Come out, X-542!" Colonel Donald Lydecker, the commanding officer of the Military forces at Manticore, allowed his voice to ring out higher than before. Only this time there was an impatient edge bleeding into his tone after not being obeyed the first time, something about it made them think they had only two choices in the matter: Either they come out of hiding on their own accord or they get forced out.

"...And _properly_ greet your father."

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**Eh, eh? :) So I hope that you liked it. If you could review/comment that would be much appreciated. I'd love to hear what you guys think! Thank you for reading.**


	5. Tracking down Lois Lane

**Good morning everyone and welcome to chapter five of Marked. Thank you for clicking my story. I hope you guys like it! :) This, BTW, is the chapter that is the beginning of what you have been waiting anxiously for and yes it will be continuing - of course - from here… as soon as I have more ideas for this story. I have about half of it so far, but half a chapter is not good enough to post… so if you have any ideas let me know. I have a few already. I am sorry for the late update, I wanted to post when I was absolutely satisfied with it! :) More than 3,000.**

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_Previously on Marked:_

It seemed that Lydecker didn't acknowledge Zack, perhaps it was because he didn't want to or maybe he thought that the younger man was actually a civilian after all - either way it was a mistake on his part. To dismiss a threat because he didn't think that they were, doesn't mean that anyone, when pushed hard enough, could become one. "Come out, X-542!" Colonel Donald Lydecker, the commanding officer of the Military forces at Manticore, allowed his voice to ring out higher than before. Only this time there was an impatient edge bleeding into his tone after not being obeyed the first time, something about it made them think they had only two choices in the matter: Either they come out of hiding on their own accord or they get forced out.

"...And properly greet your father."

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_(It was going to be titled "Something Familiar" but I switched it.)_

Chapter 5: Tracking down Lois Lane

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Nothing but silence greeted his demand at first, the order seeming to linger over their heads as no one moved a muscle. It seemed as if time itself had stopped, or rather the noise lingering in the air could not reach them from within their temporary, makeshift bubble of protection. Then suddenly an unexpected male voice rang out then, after echoing the last spoken word that Lydecker had uttered with an incredulous element that both demanded answers and insulted the idea of the man claiming to be a father. It took a long moment for Max to place the voice and when she did, she didn't know if she should be relieved or weary.

" _Jethro, we may have a problem…"_

"Father?" The man who's name she thought to be 'Jethro' demanded roughly, "You claim to be blood related to the woman that saved a child from being caught in the crossfire … while ur men didn't hesitate to shoot? This is _my investigation,_ my team put out the BOLO. This is an NCIS matter, so why don't you tell your little wannabe field probies to drop the guns and stand down before I arrest everyone involved? It would save you time and NCIS a hell of a lot of paperwork. Just walk away..."

Max blinked in surprise before shifting her gaze to Zack, to find him staring back at her with the same expression that reflected of how she felt. Over the course of the years that she had known him, no one ever had the balls to talk to Lydecker like that. If they did, Max was pretty sure that they wouldn't be heard of ever again. This guy, whoever he was, not only stood up to the feared military commander without pause… without fear.

"NCIS." Lydecker visibly mocked the important tone in "Jethro's" tone with ease whilst slowly speaking the letters, as if the other man was nothing more than a pesky fly that refused to develop self preservation and go away. As if the man before him transformed into a child that couldn't comprehend what he was saying. "You should know that NCIS has no say here. The girl is apart of a classified operation… the details of which you are not to be debriefed of. I daresay that it is well above your pay grade, above your jurisdiction. Do you not only extend your resources when a soldier is killed in action due to a cause and effect of some kind? So, why don't _you_ be a good sport and take your two man team and _walk away_?"

Silence settled around them all for a moment, there was a shocked element to it… as if the vicious ping pong match between the two stunned more than the two of them themselves. Lydecker she could understand; the man could strike fear in the many and control the masses. It was the hard, poisonous edge that the man possessed that made him so 'good' at his job. The man that she knew the Scottish older man had called Jethro seemed like the man that didn't take no for an answer, that was something that wasn't hidden well (If at all.) in his voice. He was stalling however, no matter how much of a 'good cop' he was… Jethro knew something about Lydecker was suspicious, that something didn't feel right. Max would bet highly on it, she also knew that Jethro and his 'two man team' would either go toe to toe - unknowingly or otherwise - with Manticore. Many have gotten killed for trying such a thing.

By her character analysis of the two of them, neither one knew how to back down. This would be one hell of a tennis match.

"No." Jethro hardened his voice with anger at being talked to in such a way, "I don't think that I will. Your 'Classified Operation' is starting to leak out; didn't have such a tight lid as you had thought, huh? You say it's above my 'pay grade'? Above my jurisdiction? I plan on _making it_ my jurisdiction. It was one of my coworkers that became targeted last night by one of them, we are bringing Max - you know, the one you dubbed as X-542 like she is some kind of robot? In for questioning. You, are more than welcome to come in also, since I'm positively itching to question you about your classified operation. First and foremost, however, there is a scared little girl behind that car that isn't involved in any of this and I for one think it's about time she's looked over for injuries and set home to hopefully forget this nightmare."

His tone left no room for argument toward the last of his statement, giving the impression that he could argue with Lydecker all day long if he wanted but he _didn't_. As if he had other shit to do and Lydecker was hindering him just by being there. _Who was this guy?_ Max questioned mentally to herself as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in response. It almost made her forget just how life threatening this situation was, _almost_.

Through the air arose a mother's desperate plea from within the depths of the tension that clutched at them all, her voice refusing to be silenced until her child was within the safety of her arms. A pair of feet scraped backwards against the road, and though Max's awareness warned her that guns were still drawn in their direction… at least the child could get out safe, to go home and try fruitlessly to forget that this had ever happened.

"McGee." Jethro spoke once more, this time softer than the one that his voice had previously been and a man moved forward to where they were behind the car. Both of them hereby ignoring the almost childish whine that followed from the other guy at not being the one to get picked. Max's heart pounded in her chest as she watched the man slowly move into view, the sun above them glinting brightly against his outstretched gun that he locked on both her and Zack. Max couldn't find it in her heart to blame him; both Zack and herself were unknown variables in the chaos that Ben would undoubtedly unleash. She would have been immensely disappointed if the newcomer hadn't shown even the slightest hesitance, she also expected someone with a tougher exterior not the man than stepped into view.

McGee was a tall, lean man with short blonde-brownish hair and soft bright green eyes that seemed to zone in on her sheltering movement of the child as best as she could. That and the fact that Zack leveled him with his own gun at the sight of the one in the other man's hands. He was clad in a business suit that consisted of a single jacket, and a shirt underneath the jacket with a tie in place. He watched them with a curious air, as if he thought that by staring at them hard enough he would be able to uncover their secrets… before he reached down slowly and showed them his NCIS badge that was on his left hip.

Max slowly nodded her head, before turning to Zack and without another thought yanked on the gun so the barrel pointed skywards. "He's not Manticore, Zack. He's also the only one to get her out of here unharmed." She knew Zack clearly heard what she didn't say within her soft tone, before she narrowed her eyes at 'McGee' and parted her lips to speak ever so softly so that only they that were close by could hear. "Do me a favor and get this girl out of here as quickly as you possibly can. If _they_ have it their way, the both of us are not moving out of this proximity unless it's in a body bag. I don't know about you, but I don't want her to be in one. They wouldn't care either way."

"They?" The man raised an eyebrow as he slowly lowered his gun. _She cares about the child, enough to use her own body as a shield… a child that she doesn't even know. No matter what mess that she is wrapped in, she's not how Ducky's description of Ben was: all in all, completely unhinged. No she was more like.._ He didn't say it out loud, but he saw similarities between the woman before him and the Lois Lane joke that Tony was dragging out for as long as he possibly could, thankfully it hadn't progressed to that yet. _There was just something about her, even at the very first glimpse, that just draws you in._ Tim mentally shook his head. Yes, he may not have been attracted to her romantically but he also couldn't lie, she _was_ beautiful. Probably even more so in real life than out of the sketch that was drawn from Ducky's memory. At the moment however, he pushed that aside. She felt as if ' _they_ ' weren't go to allow her - them - to walk away with their life.

Max Guevara, whomever she was behind the name and beautiful face, only smiled sadly at his assumably naïve question… as if she were a parent trying to gently tell a child something horrific happened, without going into all the details. He knew that his time to speak to her very well would be running out by now, but they needed a starting point so Timothy McGee figured he would ask her as much as he could for the remaining time that they had left. He also acknowledged that he only had this much time because Gibbs allowed it, trusted him to get as much information as he could in the time span that he was allowed.

"Sorry, but with my _Spidey senses tingling_ to let me know that the _guns_ still pointed in our general direction? I find that I don't have the time to give you a lesson in _Persian Mythology_." Max scoffed sarcastically at him, denying his request as well as giving him a few clues to figure it out on his own. She turned to the child and McGee watched, stunned and silent, as she handled the younger girl with care, "I think it's about time you got home, sweetheart."

She gave him a sharp look, warning him to get both of them as far away from here before turning her head to Zack with a grin curving her lips. At long last, she was allowed to breathe a little easier than before. " _Better_ … much better." Max murmured softly now to Zack and only continued when Lydecker finally took another chance to get the NCIS agents to leave - " _You got the child out of the way, I allowed that much. Now, the least that you could do…_ " - "Because now we can do _this_."

With that lingering between the two of them, Max bolted forward towards the apartment complex as fast as she was able to carry herself with Zack following closely to her heels. In a way, he shielding her from anymore of the bullets that shadowed them but they continued onward. The pain that ripped through them was familiar, _too_ familiar. It was through the anguish that plagued them and as their breath was heavy upon their lips, they moved as silently as they could up each flight of stairs with the sound of footsteps echoing within their ears.

"The elevator is out of order." Zack had remembered almost as soon as they entered the building, followed by a long string of curse words that was actually quite impressive.

Manticore was once again hounding them and if they couldn't discover a way to escape them this time… Max hadn't lied to 'McGee', the man with green orbs that glinted with life. She held no doubt that body bags would be needed to chart them out of the building. Manticore was still as deadly as ever, precise in their tactics and they surely didn't do anything half assed.

 _Then again, neither do we._ Max calmed her breathing as the both of them climbed higher, they needed to get out of this mess. Short term goal: Get medical treatment. Long term goal: Play hide and seek with Manticore until they realize too damn late that their numbers were dwindling.

_Failure isn't an option… it never was._

"Move... move… _move_!" Max urged both Zack and herself out loud, though she knew he thought it was only for him, as the both of them climbed each flight with as much agile speed as they could manage with their wounds. They were careful not to stray too much to the outer edge of the staircase and within shooting range of the agents that were combing the floors from the ground up, literally just a floor below them with Lydecker leading his 'legion' of soldiers that they themselves had once belonged to.

_I fucking hate Manticore._

* * *

Something about all of this, from start to finish, felt wrong. Every instinct within his body flared to life with warning as Gibbs moved forward through the apartment building cautiously. The man that refused to introduce himself by name leading stoic faced soldiers to hunt Max down, echoing in his ears as he ordered them about. The way that the man claimed her as his child, how he called her not by her name but by 'X-542'... as if it were a designation - as if it were designed for the sole purpose to erasing her name from the world. As if she and those like her were rabid, infectious and disease ridden dogs that needed to be put down at any cost. Just a thinking about it made him sick.

Max Guevara had once been an innocent child, but then again so had Ben. Something aimed to twist them into machines, into the emotionless soldiers that were bursting through apartment doors to find her and the man that stood crouched beside her outside. _Another one of them?_ 'Brothers and sisters', Ducky had recalled Max say to Ben last night - so it was possible… _Question was how many were there? How many would snap like Ben clearly had?_

With McGee and DiNozzo flanking him; Gibbs poised his gun threateningly in front of him, his grip steady even though he doubted he would use it. He saw McGee's facial expressions as he interacted with Max and her … friend? _Brother_? He saw McGee lower his gun after assessing that neither of them were a threat, at least to them. Whilst he himself hadn't spoken a single word to Max, when he had stared at her sketch… he had wondered just who this woman was. Why had she saved Ducky if she was someone to be cautious of? Why would she save child from a kill shot if she didn't have a heart? Were there other agencies out there like Manticore, whom had a hand in - what could only be assumed as - the most ungodly things? Could someone, anyone, fault a person for defending themselves? For continuing to do so with a hope that one day they didn't have to? So they could simply live their life?

He may not know her but from his perspective, it seemed that Max and people like her were hunted by this organization… and tried to make the most of what little life they had.

Gibbs took pause momentarily to thoroughly scan his surroundings. People - civilians - were being evacuated from their apartments after being searched at gunpoint. If he was right, which Gibbs believed he was, she would go somewhere that would have less casualties - since these people had shown they would shoot first. If he had been Max or her unknown friend that had been following her, in an effort not to get caught from the people that were working their way upward… a glint of awareness lit from within his eyes then.

"...Boss?" Tony hesitantly questioned after casting a side look at McGee, following near silently after Gibbs.

"Roof." Gibbs murmured gruffly in return and with both agents behind him, pushed open the closest door that would lead them away from the frantic search and make their way upward to where he surely thought that they would go. Before he started up the stairs, he glanced down to notice a spot of crimson staring back at him. _Blood,_ He confirmed just by looking at it and couldn't find it in him to be satisfied that he had been correct.

Before he too noticed what Gibbs was looking at, Tony admitted that he was doubtful with the direction but had dutifully followed his boss nevertheless. _Why would Max Guevara and her partner in crime - a statement that may or may not be literal - go_ upward _towards the roof and chance that they get themselves cornered? What about possible snipers?_ Then he remembered Ducky's detailed encounter with Max and Ben; after of which he did everything he could to not scoff right here, right now. _After all, when people whom aim to shoot you are below - it's only logical to go up, instead of finding a_ fire escape! Seriously, how comic book- fiction shit can this still get. Sure, going up sounded like a good plan - if you could get off!

_I mean, I like Marvel as much as the next person but come on!_

"I don't have to tell you to proceed with caution, do I?" Gibbs growled at the two of them as they further ascended upward, following the trail of crimson dots that laid delicately on the steps all the while trying like hell not to add to the trail by stepping on them.

"No boss." The two of them chorused innocently, dutifully… and in Tony's case a bit indignantly.

He also couldn't help but add to that, the retort lingered heated on his tongue and tried not to chuckle at McGee's answering groan of how he 'knew that it was only a matter of time-'. After all, it was time to see for themselves if there truly was any truth to Ducky's story after all.

"Let's go find  _Lois Lane_ , McGeek."

….

….

**Yesss, so far - so good. Gibbs, McGee and Tony come into the picture ...Gibbs goes toe to toe with Lydecker and freaking bends him to his will in the end like a rag doll. (As if there had been any doubt.) I chose McGee to meet her first (after Ducky that is) since Tony would distract her and all of that. Not a good place to be distracted, surrounded by people that want to kill you and all. Next chapter: Tony and Max meet, Zack gets protective, McGee and Abby is completely confused... and Gibbs and Lydecker have a very thorough conversation.**

**Thank you very much for reading. I sincerely hoped that you liked it! Please, if you could leave a review/comment that would be awesome! Thanks.**


	6. Exit wound

Hello everyone out there reading this! Thank you so much for clicking on my story. This is Chapter 6 of Marked and I love how this is coming along. I hope you do too. :) I apologize for the delay: I'm moving. Either way, here it is.

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Chapter 6: Exit Wound

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A huff of air passed her lips to silently express her irritation as both Max and Zack scoped the buildings just outside of the doorway that led to the roof. Just one step out into the gravel covered surface and there was a huge possibility that they would only be greeted with a kill shot. Through paranoia and self preservation alone, is where they got to where they stood today. For yes, they may be on the run but they were still alive… and that was still something that many others would not ever again be able to say.

Zack made a hand notion in her direction to stay put, hidden within the makeshift cover, and she had to gulp down the feeling that grew upward from her stomach; tightening around her throat and leaving her to gasp for air. She damn well knew that she shouldn't have dragged Zack into her mess, and should have fought against his stubbornness more than what she had. Too late now, Max thought dryly. She couldn't help but be annoyed with herself for going to see him in the first place, for pushing him back into the life of the run but Max also would be kidding herself if she said that Zack wouldn't shadow her just to spite that line of thinking. Still she wished that they could have easily parted ways with a 'Don't you dare die' kind of hug, a tight and comforting embrace before they extracted from each other's arms and went about their lives. Nothing is ever easy, Max have found out in the early stages of her life, and she had no way to know for certain that being apart from Zack really was for best. For either of them.

Max paused in the shadows with clenched teeth, every fiber of her being telling her to get out there on the roof and watch Zack's six - just like they had promised each other years before - but reluctantly did what the man asked of her. Zack was the older brother figure that protected her more than once, the one that assumed the role to watching her back without anyone asking him to. She slowly tilted her gaze down, locking her doe eyes with the blood that oozed from their wounds and remembered how he took those bullets to the back for her - not more than ten minutes ago. He always protected her… she just prayed to the God above that it didn't get him killed.

Max held her breath before releasing it slowly, steadying against the wall behind her before the female X-5 twisted her body to the left and walked out from the cover. Sirens blared from the streets below them, echoing through the air as Max overlooked the Washington landscape that enveloped around her after she stepped into the light. Zack gave her a look, one of annoyance for not waiting until he deemed it was safe but Max thought he was fooling himself. If there was a sniper waiting for them, she was faced with the sad realization that Zack would no longer be breathing. What did he expect for her to do exactly? Retrace her steps and be faced with what awaited them in the building? She thought that she would be able to take down some but certainly not all.

The only one that would be safe from getting hit was the man that stood up to him, stood up to Manticore, and Max didn't even know what he looked like. It was still so unheard of, so unbelievable… that Max had to fight the sudden impulse to laugh. No one had be brave or even stupid enough to stand against Lydecker, and she couldn't help but hope that the man proved to be everything she hoped he was. Different. How long would that last though? How long until that brilliant show of defiance from that one individual would wane? Manticore shown others time and time again (if said others lived in the end, that is) that they weren't above blackmailing, mind warping, and/or killing to accomplish whatever objectives they set out to do. Anyone involved that dared to move on, dared to live a life outside of Manticore - out of a life where you were only regarded as nothing more than a test subject instead of the person that you were born to be… anyone that defied them was hunted down and killed.

Aren't we the lucky ones? Max thought sarcastically; growing even more wary that what she had been because she knew with unwavering certainty, deep within what was left of her very soul, that any attempt they made at a life would lead Manticore to them. Nowhere would ever be safe, not from the likes of them and if they made connections to others - it would only put those people in danger because of them. Shooting a glance sideways at Zack, she cautiously peered her head over the edge to the ground below only for four agents to slowly notice her face and raise their guns upward to take aim.

Max quickly pulled her body back from the ledge, taking two paces backwards with gravel shifting underneath her feet and calming the adrenaline that pounded through her veins. Relax there, Soldier. She eyed the ledge cautiously for what seemed like just a few moments before a scoff left her lips. Either they weren't Manticore or they were rank: Amateurs. Even so, they should have been waiting for us up on the roof. What they didn't make it a requirement to scale a building for 'training' anymore?! "Four." Max gave Zack another side glance, though this one was definitely more amused than the previous one that she offered him. "Newbies, my guess. That or non-experiments. They took a total thirty seconds just to look up."

Zack shook his head softly in response to her cheeky to tone, though the look in his eyes was one that was of fondness instead of in repremendment. Yes, he wished she would be more serious about this but didn't have the heart to speak against what amused her. She grew into a beautiful woman, a free bird that learned to live despite the cage it had been trapped in… it was all he could have ever hoped for Max. For his sister, the woman that he knew instinctively upon meeting her again exactly who she was. Despite her appearance, Max hadn't changed much in their years apart; she still had the sense of right and wrong that combated with the inner steel that she acquired at a young age. She still had her feisty, stubborn edge.

"Amusement about Lydecker's ever so lack of teaching can wait for later, when we are actually safe and not in a red zone." He spoke, forcing a reprimanding element into his voice that had Max rolling her eyes. "For now we have more pressing issues to worry about, Max. Such as: how to get off this rooftop and disappear underground while we still are able to." Let's not forget that we are both still losing blood, Zack mentally added on as he stared down at the crimson droplets decorating the gravel beneath their feet and he had to admit to himself that it was strange that no one had noticed the blood trail that led up the roof. How no one was already up here to… greet them. Amusing and very convenient as it was.

"Obvious, isn't it?" Max raised an eyebrow to the person whom she thought of as a sibling, as the brother that she never got to have, and contemplated why he didn't acknowledge that they were going to have to jump. Hell, it isn't like that it would kill them. They were far from human and if nothing else, Manticore was to thank for making them durable in such ways.

He offered her a long look before nodding sarcastically, because Zack's intuition flared and made him know where exactly she was going with this even without hearing an assessment. "Oh, how forgetful of me. We could have easily jumped down from this height being genetically enhanced and all. It wouldn't have been much of a problem to take out any guards… if we weren't injured, Max!"

"Details, Details." Max rolled her doe brown eyes with an air of dismission even though they never once stopped scanning for a threat, her tone of voice was one of familiarity. What one would teasingly use with a family member that 'worried too much', because that was how Max viewed Zack even though she loved him all the same. Finding none, she aimed a smirk at the one she called brother, "You say that like we never been wounded and had to… survive, before. It's not like it would hurt us, at least any more than what we are." It was the best word she could ever come up with to describe all that they had been through at the hands of Manticore. How they fought to stand where they were today, even as the odds were against them.

"You mean because of what we are." Zack clarified sharply, eyeing her with a long glance and glints as hard as his tone. He was protective of her and now remembered just how much Zack wished she had more self-preservation. He would always look at for her, that he swore to uphold until his dying breath... he just wished that she would make the task a tad little bit easier on him.

Max moved her lips into a thin line, before releasing them to ask Zack if he had a better idea… though someone else filled the silence for her. Someone with a voice that was vaguely familiar and it was only after a mere moment that her brain supplied the person's name. How had this guy and his team… found her and Zack before Lydecker and his legion of mindless super soldiers discovered them? How the hell does that even happen? "Either way, it isn't worth it."

Zack stiffened before spinning around his lethal body to narrow his eyes at the doorway, his right hand swifted darting to the gun in his waistband just as a man appeared slowly out of the shadows with his work worn hands raised in defense. How long he was listening in on their conversation was beyond her comprehension but as Max stared steadily into the blue orbs that were locked upon them, she knew with certainty that Gibbs - whomever he was - stood before them in a soldier's stance. One that came with being at ease, despite how he tracked and categorized each movement they made like he was a hawk. Fox, Max claimed mentally instead, a silver haired fox. This was the man that stood up to Lydecker, the very same one that could be on borrowed time if he wasn't careful. Something within Max knew he would be though, this was the same man whose voice Ducky was speaking with on the phone when Ben attacked. The same one that wasn't involved in any of this, with Manticore, but he wormed his way through the hoops that Lydecker chucked at him. Interesting, was what is was.

"Gibbs, I presume?" Max questioned cheekily as she stared at him for a long moment, before she shook her head slowly as if to shake away a thought that warred with everything else that she knew of. He was looking at them - though mainly her - like he actually gave a damn about them. He could be scanning them for weapons since Zack pulled out a nine millimeter… but why did apart of her think that he was actually cataloging their injuries? She knew him to be different, just like the sky was blue… just like she knew that the part that was X-542 would always be within her, a soldier. Just how different was yet to be determined.

"Max Guevara." Gibbs responded to the dark haired woman after giving a nod at her question, "If that is your real name." He watched silently as her lips twisted into a sad smile of remembrance, her eyes growing distant as if she had been suddenly trapped within her own mind at his statement. X-542 is what the man that claimed to be her father called her, Gibbs recalled easily but the more he stared at her, the more it dawned on him exactly what she was. A lost soul, one that he could help. He didn't know anything about the man she called Zack, but he did see that the younger man saved her as best as he could from being shot. From what he had seen from the shadows before he made himself known, Gibbs noticed that the two of them had a bond of sorts… family ties to one another even though the two of them looked nothing alike.

She shook her head once more before responding softly to his statement that was more of a question than anything else, her carefully chosen seven words that she uttered carrying itself upon the wind, "It is to the people that matter." She eyed him silently then, trying to decipher how he was going to play this. Max wanted to know who he was as a person, what he stood for but all she had of him was one name - probably his last name. ..No, that wasn't true at all, was it?

"Jethro, we may have a major problem."

Well, at least the name 'Gibbs' wasn't the only information she had on this stranger. Max thought with amusement in her veins as she recalled what Ducky had called him, before she tilted her head slowly to the right. Definitely a Marine. I damn well know a well trained soldier when I see one. It was in their code, to adapt and overcome… to know that pain was only weakness leaving your body. Semper Fi, Gibbs… you have me cornered for now, what is it you plan to do?

Gibbs eyed her with growing softness, one that he usually reserved for Abby and no one else… until now. He usually didn't warm up to anyone this quickly but no one other than her saved Ducky, one of his own, before they met face to face. It was strange, yes but no less than what he thought to expect. Max Guevara clearly had the capabilities to be like Ben, strong with a clear diagnosis of PTSD, but despite how they both went through the unknown - Max was stronger than Ben was. Mentally, she remained standing with her sanity intact. "Fair enough." He offered shortly in response, making her eye him after his lack of question.

Sunlight glinting in the corner of her eye captured Max's attention, making her spin her head sharply to eye Zack whom had remained silent throughout the short exchange and how leveled his gun directly at Gibbs. Gibbs didn't seem much like a threat, Zack… at least not yet. Max thought exasperatedly before she swiftly moved to be in Zack's line of fire before Gibbs could even fully reach the gun at his hip. She felt Gibbs' eyes burning holes at the back of her head but heeded him no mind as Max held up her hands in front of her, eyes pleading with her brother to stop. The two that were Gibbs' foot soldiers stepped out of the cover then, and though she couldn't see them Max knew with certainty that one gulped and the other shuffled his feet.

"Give me the gun, Zack." Max demanded of him sharply, carefully skimming over the fact that she almost called him Ben and turning over one hand to outstretch it to him. Palm up, in offering. "Give. me. the. Gun." He tried to make an argument, but she cut him off before he could get too far. 'We have no idea who these people are-' "You're right, we don't. We have no fucking clue if they are actually friend or foe. So what do we know? He stood up to Lydecker, name one person still alive that did that?"

"So he's a dead man walking." Zack scoffed, trying to determine if she was right or blinded by what she thought was. "I'll be damned if I let you get caught in the crossfire. I swore to take care of you and dam-"

"Zack!" Max barked at him, taking a fearless step forward. "No he's not, wanna know why?" She gave him a moment to respond but all he did was silently eye her, waiting, and then she resumed. Though this time, it was calmly, "Because he's different… somehow, and you're an idiot if you don't feel it too. I may not know who he and his little band of misfits are, but I know damn well that they aren't Manticore. And that? That has to count for something…" She shook her own hand that hung in the air, putting emphasis on it to capture his attention. "Now… please give me the fucking gun?" She smiled then, one that went from comforting into satisfaction as he heeded to her words finally and placed the weighted weapon in his hand.

She slowly stepped back, hitting the clip release button to have it fall into her other hand before pulling the trigger while directing it at the ground so Max made sure that there wasn't a bullet in the chamber. "You can have this." She threw him the emptied gun, which Zack caught with an incredulous look on his face that Max had a hard time not laughing at, before she waved the fully loaded clip in in the air without even looking at the three agents. "And if you lot get any smart ideas? If you try and prove me wrong? I will give this back to him and I can assure you, we never miss."

"Neither do we." Gibbs responded gruffly, never taking his eyes off the duo before him.

Silence shrouded them then from where they stood on the rooftop, before the corners of Max's lips twitched upwards into a smirk. "Fair enough. Now, I have to ask. How's Ducky doin-" She cut herself off from asking her question - that though she may have been asking playfully and didn't know him well, she still said Ducky's name gently - because she turned and came to a standstill at the sight before her. Past where Gibbs was standing closer to them, there were two other agents slightly behind him. Max bypassed McGee, the one that had dutifully got the child out of harm's way, to look at the third and final member of the trio… and couldn't look way even if her life counted on it. For a brief moment, her mind conjured an image of the same person before her in a wheelchair with those green eyes still reflecting with his fighting spirit even if he couldn't physically show it. His brown hair mirroring this man's hair now; a mess. She didn't know him well before all this happened, before Manticore struck at her once again in that other world… but she connected with him in a way that she hadn't done with anyone else. She remembered stealing from him... and he didn't seem angry as much as she remembered him being lonely.

And it was now, that Max stared wide eyed at this familiar face… wondering if he had been cloned just like she knew the X-5's had been. Had we ever escaped Manticore or is this world just another ploy that they conjured? A life that I couldn't have had with- Her name echoed within her ears, the voice contorted though it sounded much like Zack's voice; worried and cautious as he always had been with her around. She took one step forward in his direction, to the left, and then her other foot mirrored the action. It seemed like only seconds until Max was stopped when she felt Zack's hand clench around her right forearm, to pull her back even as he was confused by how she was reacting. Worse yet, she knew she couldn't explain just yet why she was drawn to the name before her. To discover what made him differ from the one she knew, to know him as a person. A flicker of self-preservation sparked within her mind, asking Max what made her think that this wasn't Manticore's ploy after all… to draw her in like the moth that she was acting right now, and manipulate her like they were always good at doing.

How did she know that any of this was real? The answer to that question was, she didn't know… but what Max did know was that she had to try.

One word spilled from her lips then, seemingly on it's own accord as it saturated with the incredulous tone of voice she used, and she could only lie in wait to see what kind of reaction he would give her. She knew that it couldn't be him, even if it was only because of the fact he wasn't in a wheelchair. Still, even with all that Max faced, her rational mind couldn't seem to process any of this.

"...Logan?"

...

...

I hope that you liked this chapter. Thank you for reading, if you could leave a review for it - please do so. :)


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